Windows 8: Death by a Thousand Cuts?

After Microsoft released Windows Vista, the company stumbled badly by reacting far too slowly to an amazing push by Apple and its allies in the media and blogosphere to discredit the new OS. With Windows 8, Microsoft faces a similar problem, and the growing perception that this new OS is a poorly conceived disaster. And the window is closing to address this perception.

The problem Microsoft now faces, however, is compounded by a number of issues. Windows Vista, whatever its problems, was a traditional PC operating system aimed at traditional PCs. The competition it faced, such as it was, was Apple’s Mac OS X. At that time, the Cupertino juggernaut hadn’t even released the first iPhone, let alone the iPod touch or iPad. And no offense to Mac fans, but there was only so much ground the Mac was ever going to make up.

This time, things are quite different. Apple has released its iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad in the interim and the world will never be the same: We now have completely different expectations when it comes to personal computing, and we are increasingly turning to devices over PCs.

At work, we used to call this trend the “consumerization of IT,” because these devices -- just like the first PCs, by the way -- became popular first at home and then were pushed into the workplace by users demanding to be more efficient. But more recently it’s been referred to as the BYOD movement -- for “Bring Your Own Device” -- and has been formally adopted via a looser management scheme than the one Microsoft spent the previous decade perfecting. As is so often the case with technology, progress happened, and those of us who support technology were simply swept along in its wake.

Windows 8 is a product of the BYOD era and was designed to bridge the gap between the traditional PC world of the past and the devices world of the near future. Microsoft should be credited with creating a single product that can be all things to all people -- or two products, if you consider Windows RT something different -- but it can also fairly be dinged for creating a first version of that product that, put fairly, is pretty damned confusing to most people.

Microsoft claims that the Windows 8 learning curve isn’t insurmountable, and although I’m sure that’s true, there is a learning curve. Compare the experience of a PC-using adult trying to understand Windows 8 to that of handing a child an iPad for the first time to understand the difference between frustrating and delightful.

Microsoft also claims, curiously, and, I think, disingenuously, that it had arrived at the design for Windows 8 before the iPad arrived. This claim was most recently repeated by new Windows chief Julie Larson-Green, a disciple of previous Windows chief Steven Sinofsky, the man most personally responsible for all that is both right and wrong with Windows 8. “We started planning Windows 8 in June of 2009, before we shipped Windows 7, and the iPad was only a rumor at that point,” she told MIT Technology Review recently. “I only saw the iPad after we had this design ready to go.” I was told a similar tale by the credible Jensen Harris, who helped design Windows 8.

But the issue here isn’t a matter of release dates, it’s a matter of common sense. When you hear that Apple, which had already released the iPhone and iPod touch by 2009, was going make a tablet version of these devices, you arrive immediately at what Apple did release, the iPad. So it’s not like Microsoft decided that “touch is the future” independently. And as I hinted at earlier, a case can be made that Windows 8 might have been better if Microsoft simply had aped the iPad design a little more closely.

I think it’s relevant too that Apple has, to date, not tried to merge its iOS and OS X products into a single product line. Instead, Apple has evolved its Mac-based OS X to include features from iOS that make sense on that desktop/laptop-based system. It has described this work, which began in 2011, as a virtuous cycle, because iOS was originally based on OS X, but now iOS is influencing OS X too.

Microsoft, with much less success in mobile markets than Apple, felt it couldn’t afford to keep the two separate. And poor sales of devices based on its Windows Phone platform -- which followed nonexistent sales of its predecessor Zune devices -- pretty much explain why the new Metro mobile platform has been melded onto the desktop like an experiment gone wrong: Had Microsoft released this thing separately, no one would have purchased it. And although I’ve made the argument that Microsoft can and will update and mature Windows 8 pretty regularly for the next few years, this is an effort that can’t start soon enough. And it’s one that needs to involve the community of users who will actually implement and deploy this product.

That sounds obvious until you recall that the current team overseeing the development of Windows couldn’t care less what you think about the product. Windows 7 and Windows 8 were developed in abject isolation from the outside world, because Microsoft disbanded the beta testing teams that had previously offered feedback at a very early point in development. Here, Microsoft was cherry-picking from the Apple playbook -- creating products in secret -- while ignoring the most important parts of that company’s strategy, such as its emphasis on keeping its products aggressively simple and effective. Dictating from on high only works when you make something that everyone loves.

I want to believe that Larson-Green is a better manager than her predecessor. And a key way that she can prove that is to reach out to those whom Microsoft has wronged the most, its customers. Rather than impose its will on users, Microsoft should make a show of asking exactly what it is that people think is wrong with Windows 8 and then endeavor to fix the most common issues. My suspicion is that such a campaign would result in such things as the ability to boot to the desktop and run desktop applications side-by-side with Metro apps. The horrors.

Today, like Windows Vista before it, Windows 8 is starting to succumb to death by a thousand cuts. But it’s not too late, Microsoft, and your customers would love to help you design a product they want to buy. All you have to do is ask.

Discuss this Article 76

@LUIS Windows Server 2012 sucks? LOL you clearly aren't an IT professional. I've been converting as many machines as I can to 2012 as its speed/footprint on virtual infrastructure is amazing. The Metro UI is meaningless in this setting.
@ Paul T - I know you have many issues with Windows 8. Much of which I agree with (Confusing Music app/service, poor inbuilt apps) - but overall is it really that bad? My Surface RT is actually pretty good, if they had a full blown Outlook client (or they update the limited inbuilt amil app) I could use it as my primary machine all the time.

@ScubaDog
My girlfriends dad is in his 50's, never really been into technology in a big way. He had a Windows XP laptop for a long long time and recently swapped it for a new laptop with Windows 8.
At first he wanted XP put back on, after a day or two he's figured out Windows 8 by himself, including the new start screen which of his own accord decided it's actually much more simple in many ways.
The reason he was able to get over the simple learning curve is he doesn't have any prejudice against it. Nobody who he considers to be "Techy" told him it was rubbish...so he formed his own opinion of it.
Like you say it's shocking the amount of people who bash Windows 8 without really trying it. I can do 10 hours of coding in a day in Visual Studio 2012 and it's not really any different than Windows 7 desktop.

I think MS missed the opportunity to rebrand Windows RT or Metro as Windows Simple or Windows Cut-Down or Windows Basic. The phrase Now you no longer have to. Is a much more popular phrase in my office than Now you can
That would have left regular Windows with Desktop as Professional Grade, Business Class, Hi-Grade, or Heavy-Duty. Auto and kitchen appliance manufactures have made lots of money this way.
I do desktop support and have been rolling out Windows 7. Users hate change unless they have sought it out and paid for it. When I do a good job, my users have the same set of icons on their desktop every time they sit down to a new machine. When I dont, they complain about a missing outlook icon (exactly two inches from the left and three inches from the bottom in a string of icons that made a circle matching their desktop picture) and Dear God, did I lose their eleven years of email? Those same people are more than happy to tell me they wish they could change over to an Apple product as if changing over would be so simple.
If I could tell my users they could reduce their entire Windows experience to touching icons, they should really love it. Except that because it is still called Windows, it should be exactly like last years Windows. If it were called Windows Simple, or Microsoft Icon, they wouldnt expect it to be the same and they would be open to change, and pleasantly surprised when they could make it do the same things their old Windows did.

It's not about the technology. More than at any other time in marketing history, it's about The Meme.
Right from Day One of the first preview release, the meme started building and Microsoft ignored the feedback from the very previews that were out there for exactly that purpose... feedback.
So where are we now? Are we discussing the wonders of Storage Spaces? Are the pundits? Is the public?
No! It's pretty much about the !%!## Start Button.
If Microsoft can't see the danger after Vista/UAC... well.. what's the point.

Quote: "With Windows 8, Microsoft faces a similar problem, and the growing perception that this new OS is a poorly conceived disaster. And the window is closing to address this perception."
Well, that's because it is a poorly conceived disaster. What a sad and obvious marketing scheme Microsoft is trying to foist on the computer using public. Well right it's being rejected. When they deliberately crippled it for no reason (other than the marketing department's interference) by making the Start Menu unavailable, I knew then it was an OS from hell and I hated it.
I don't mind change for progress, but hate it when it's just snake oil, which is what Windows 8 is on the Desktop, snake oil.

Heck, I go back a bit with Microsoft - I was an MCP on Win 3.11. I've been an MCSE since the cert first came out. I've been an MCSE, MCSA, MCSD, MCDBA, MCITP and a few others I don't even remember. I would just like it if Microsoft would do something to make me like them again. Silly things like delaying the SDK release for WP8 to developers clamoring to create the apps that are desperately needed by the platform. Silly things like not allowing the Start button on the Desktop or for the Desktop to display by default. Silly things like not having a decent podcast app or plain easy means of getting music and music to a WP8 device. Please, Microsoft, help me help you.

It's not just that they grafted a smartphone/tablet-oriented GUI onto a desktop OS. They also grafted it onto their Server OS. Try to bring up the WS2012 Start menu in a Remote Desktop session from your iPad (through a VPN to add more fun) without using your meyboard, and it's an exercise in surreality (most iOS apps don't recognize sweeping in from the corner of the screen). Even the nifty trick of hitting the Windows key then typing a command or program name has been messed up since you now have to choose between Apps and Settings in your search scope (whatever happened to the Vista-era dream of unified search?). And then here's the new pseudo-Metro style Server Manager, lots of fun trying to navigate that when your only working interface is through a sluggish management board or VM console connection. Most of us run Windows Server in VMs or on commodity hardware, and not on a tablet or smartphone, and I fear it's not just consumers that are being alienated by this insensitivity, it's also legions of support staff whose commitment and expertise in the enterprise space is essential for Microsoft to retain its dominance in that market.

I've been an IT pro for 25 years, and S certified (MCSE, MC-ITP) for 13 years. I'm heaviliy invested in MS at the server and client level at my job. I don't know what MS was thinking with Windows 8. Tiles on Win Server 2012? Really?? I agree with Paul on many, many points. MS is going to have to make some fixes, and fast, or this is going to be another Vista. A white elephant for them, in other words.
Oh, and the personal attacks on Paul are out of line.

For Windows 8, what is keeping me from using it as a main operating system is the X-Box Music and X-Box Video apps. They're atrocious. First, they separated music and videos, whereas most users of digital media have been accustomed to one program for all their needs. Then they removed the ability to edit metadata, and any meaningful ability to sort by that metadata. Zune at least let us edit metadata (not as much as Windows Media Player on XP, but it was something), and edit for video files. X-Box Video - nothing. Windows Media Player had auto-synch of playlists of music with certain criteria - X-Box Music - nothing. Windows Media Player let me create video playlists. X-Box Video - nothing. I can't play all videos of a season of a TV series like Sherlock or Doctor Who with X-Box Video. Even then, it hides the episodes and seasons off-screen, where I would not look. I have around 2 TB of music and video, and for now, Windows 8 is worthless to me as a media consumption device until this is fixed. It's sad to say, but iTunes 11 is looking really good now. It has a better interface than X-Box Video or Music right now. I can go on for a while on every little qualm I have with those two programs, and run out of characters in this comment box, and not even get to the lack of 'boot to desktop' option, but I will stop now. Until the Music/Video is fixed, I will continue to use Windows 7, Zune, and Windows Media Center with JackLuminous' TV Library plugin.

I'm a firm supporter of Microsoft's 'one OS to rule them all" mentality. I love the idea of switching between devices, but having the same OS and apps. Or having one device that can be a desktop (in a dock with full size keyboard, mouse, monitor), a laptop, and tablet. But I do disagree with changing the desktop experience so dramatically. For desktop pc's or non-touchscreen laptops (both of which make up the majority of pc's currently), there should be a 'desktop only' mode that is more similar to classic Windows. I can live with it, but people like my dad are lost. At the Metro screen, I tell him to just click the Desktop tile; and I created all his application shortcuts on the desktop, even a custom one to shut the pc down.

Major problem - XP is a business OS, and an upgrade from 2K/NT4, and users have learned towork within it.
Vista was a major change in internals that annoyed and confused without offering extra - so business stayed with XP
Win7 was a change from Vista, but apparently without some major glitches - businesses looked at and preferred to stay with XP.
Users were getting into phone apps - kids and adults - the interface was 'application based' rather than desktop - so that was an entirely new viewpoint of technology
That new view was - take it with you on a hand-held rather than a desktop, or laptop
Hardware suppliers of windows capable hardware missed supplying the tablet at a reasonable price.
The mini-laptops were OK for Win2K/XP and just about capable of Office 2003, but MICROSOFT was forcing users onto Office 2007 and Win7, which they were just not capable of running 'smoothly'.
So - I'm looking for a portable, no-breaky-off-keyboard deviice with a good screen resolution (1080 HD-TV) and good response .
What I have from MS devices is £1000 devices, or - devices that just are not capable of running MS Office
And that is without considering the lack of security within the design of the MS OS, and that's without considering the fixes for bugs.
Possibly because the design does not consider the separation between OS kernel and the Wider OS facilities and the User application services and the user application, and then the user - basic, and controller level as well as the attachment of devices for varying uses.
The MS techs do not seem to have a firm understanding of the differecnce between a device and a partition.
and the running OS and the service facilities (files) associated with it and it's maintenance, as well as the need to wseparate them.
Without the separation of those levels of access & control there is little hope for a secure OS, let alone having the OS used in a manner that promotes security.
Simply MS failed their userbase since 2003

For me the main factor for not using windows 8 is the missing "windows classic" look and feel that I use in all my Win7 and w2k8r2 environments. BRING IT BACK and I might give it a secong try, otherwise I WILL NOT CHANGE and will continue to advise my company to not even consider the change(we have a mixed workstations environment of XP & 7). Even Windows Server 2012 sucks with it's looks.
One final word for the disgusting colours in Office 2013. NO UPGRADE here either.

Paul, I was just busting your chops regarding not buying your book. However, I don't agree with your reviews of Windows 8. Your judgment that Microsoft should have followed Apples lead and designed Windows as a separate operating systems is wrong. Apple doesn't enlist users feedback on any of their products so why should Microsoft? Microsoft actually has created a very good OS in Windows 8. On the surface and at first glance Windows 8 isn't very appealing, but after using Windows 8 on 5 computers connected to our home network (none have touch capability) I find Windows 8 to be a very likable system to use, especially if you have multiple monitors. Intel's CEO Paul Otellini commented in a closed Intel meeting that Windows 8 was half baked. He did not mean that Windows 8 was in any way a bad quality build. Paul Otellini later said that there are features intended for Windows 8 that weren't ready at release for retail. Otellini said that Microsoft would be releasing those features as they become available as free updates. Regarding the 5 computers running Windows 8, we have experienced no problems with programs not running or driver problems and absolutely no BSODs.

I've worked with Windows for over 20 years now and I'm not sure I understand the MS insistence on the "Interface Formerly known as Metro". Would it be a bad thing to give IT Pros the choice of deploying a "Start" button interface to the user community that is trained on using it? Not everything needs to revolve around the touch interface. I know they want to avoid the Linux experience with a thousand desktops but is the insistance premature? There are some good things that will be missed in WIN8 and more importantly Server 2012 if MS doesn't offer us the choice. I know there are 3rd party products but that is the hardest sell of all.
MICROSOFT... Reconsider your position on a "Start" button interface.

Windows 8 is a great OS. Its faster than any other Microsoft OS (other than DOS). The biggest single problem with Windows 8 is the same problem that Vista was plagued with negative publicity. Remember the Im a Mac guy and all the commercials about the UAC. (not sure how the padlock in OSX is any different but who wants to use logic, right?)
All of the OH MY GOD, There IS No Start Menu rants are unwarranted. How hard is it to understand that the ENTIRE SCREEN is the Start Menu?
I provided a desktop and a touch pad to an elderly family member who wanted to learn to use a computer. Fortunately she had not been exposed to the opinions of most of the people commenting here. Within an hour she was able to navigate the OS, read/write/send email, browse the web and select and install a number of applications from the marketplace. (We opted for a non-touch display because she had shoulder surgery and reaching out was uncomfortable).
It took nearly three years for Windows XP to be widely accepted in homes and in the enterprise. Over that time span, the same type of pushback was seen/heard. The only difference between then and now is that every Tom, Dick and Jane has access to, and feels the need to, comment on everything.
In the end, Windows 8 will be just fine. It will be adopted by the enterprise. It will end up on your desktop or laptop (if you are among the Windows using population). And most importantly, youll end up liking it.
@nventmatt

I could tell from the first time I used the developer preview that Windows 8 was going to be poorly received by consumers. It just doesn't feel right as an OS on the desktop, and despite some people on IT websites who claim to be seeing workplaces switching their desktop PCs for tablets, I haven't come across any evidence of it in the real world.
I'm strongly of the opinion that MS would have been better off just releasing the Windows RT product (with a better name) for their consumer tablets and integrating some of the features into the desktop OS in a less forceful way. One example: something which seems to be confusing everyone I've witnessed using Windows 8 is the way there are two task switchers, the one on the left of the screen for the Metro apps (which seems a good way of doing it) and the old fashioned one for the desktop apps. If you're in Metro and you want to switch to one of the apps on the desktop you need to first switch to the desktop using the left-hand switcher and then click on the traditional switcher to get to that app.
I understand the reasons *why* it works that way, and that MS sees the Metro apps as the future, but it's just confusing for the end-users (I find myself trying to use the wrong switcher by accident and I'd view myself as fairly advanced). I really don't see why they couldn't have developed a single switcher that would allow the user to change between any apps regardless of the environment. We're going to be using desktop apps for a long time yet and users will move in their own time as better Metro apps become available, so there's no point in trying to expedite that change by making it more difficult to use the desktop environment.

The best OS from MS, imho; and aces Windows 7 /2008R2 in nearly every arena. I am having no trouble with Windows 8 on laptop/desktop and virtual guest, or even remotely/vpn. There are just too many "IT Admins" who need to change with the times.

As an IT Jose Hernandez is poorly suited. After two weeks he couldn't do a global file search, when all he had to do was begin typing a file name on the start screen and a box would appear and all he had to do was click on it and the file soul very quickly open. When windows 8 beta was first released in Feb 2012 I ran Windows 8 on a virtual drive and even at a beta 1 state windows 8 ran quit quickly and very smooth, including the metro tiles. Paul, I'm very disappointed in your reviews of Windows 8. Stop giving into the Apple fan boys. I was looking forward to your Windows 8 book, but now I may consider a book by another author.U

Assuming Microsoft will ever ask their customers what they want (they haven't since the days of DOS), they would have to do a great job of healing those 1000 cuts to make me want Windows 8. Good luck with that. If, in the meantime, Apple learns to support their products in the enterprise, that could be the last cut. Good luck with that, too, I suppose. Amazing how consistently the old adage holds that says "good help is hard to find".

Fail#1: Forcing Windows 2012 Server to have MetroUI, there is just no justification for this.
Fail#2: Windows RT, its so hard to explain what it is to users especially that it comes with Office 2013 and why Windows 8 doesn't
Fail#3: You do not advertise a product by promoting its $100 accessory. The surface in its true for with keyboard actually costs more than the proven iPad
Fail#4: Having nerds promote a product in the hopes of it becoming mainstream. We should learn from Apple, you have to do the reverse.
Fail#5: Its really hard to promote a product (Surface/Win8, etc) who's founder was fired just one week after launch. Ironically the same happened to Apple Maps. Both were disasters so mad someone had to go.

I personally don't believe Windows 8 is the impending disaster that people will have you believe. At some point, Microsoft had to get into the touch-based fray if for no other reason than for survival's sake. We as loyal Microsoft consumers knew this was going to be a rough ride because we have become so accustomed to our usual way of doing things. I've used Windows 8 exclusively on my traditional laptop, and while I will admit to being frustrated occasionally by forgetting things aren't where they normally are, I've enjoyed the differences and can look past the now and see where this might be heading when I'm not using my traditional devices as my main computing platforms. I applaud their first effort, but more importantly, I look forward to where this will take us going forward.

I get that if you are on touch screen only that could be a problem, in the UK though the majority of the people I know with Windows 8 aren't running a touch device anyway.
You would be less inclined to use the desktop apps on a touch device anyway I suppose, Visual Studio without an actual keyboard anyone?...

@Gurpreet
Windows 8 is a disaster on the Desktop so Gurpreet here blames IT Admins.
Windows 8 is a disaster because the Microsoft folks decided that instead of serving their customers, they'd foist an obvious and bad snake oil marketing scheme on them.
Perhaps the programmer & engineer verses flake ratio at Microsoft has tipped too much in the flake direction, who knows?
But anyway, the folks at Redmond are now all a twitter about mobile apps; so much so they decided the Desktop PC is really just a mobile phone and Windows 8 should be a walled garden of half-baked HTML fluff apps. And anyone who figures out that's how the folks at Microsoft are thinking is to be called a stick in the mud who won't embrace change.
But this time Microsoft folks, although you're so keen to extend and embrace, your customers don't want to even touch. Go back to the drawing board and if anyone there comes up with some rainbow metro "marketing scheme", send them down to the service department to spend some time blowing dust out of PC cases.
Progress change good. Snake oil change bad.

I don't see the desktop surviving much longer with the exception of highly specialized tasks. This was a must move for MS, who frankly probably see the same trend, but that's not going to be publicly stated at this point.
The irony here is that you even recognize this with your BYOD comment. Other than for specialized uses in the corporate world, and perhaps some heavy fps gaming, the desktop only now represents the shackles of slow moving corporate management imposed by their slow moving robotic IT admins on employees who they (mgmt. and their hapless IT drones) would prefer confined to the desk itself. After all It's hard to play pretend "King of the Fiefdom" when the peasants are nowhere to be found.
I used to be bound to a desktop, or the more mobile but still semi-unwieldy laptop. Now I just occasionally "visit" both to pay a sentimental Hi, how are you doing old friend check in. Now, the majority of my time is spent hanging out with my new best buddy- my tablet.
At this point I'm betting that MS's philosophy is based even less on non vested user feedback, and more on- it is what it is, see you on the other side of the device world.

Im an IT professional. I regretted upgrading my main laptop to Windows 8. Used it for almost two (2) weeks and spent almost half day formatting the HDD to re-install Windows 7 Pro, drivers, applications etc.
No global index search, finding anything took longer. It was frustrating using Windows 8. Would give it a shot again if some of the old features are added after SP1.
Oh!!! Good luck using those tiles in a Virtual environment.

Few weeks ago I upgraded 10 users in my company from XP to WIN8. The learning curve for them was 2 days, with one training of half an hour. The myth that there is a big learning curve for Windows 8 is a bull. Metro is the only thing that is new.
After they complained for one day, the next they were happily running their CADs and other software, and praising how Windows 8 is fast.

Listening to their customers ? After having aggressively ignored us, having pushed down things down our throats that we did not want, insisting to know what is best for us and continuously insisting to change the way we work and leave us no options (anyone missing a Start Button?) it is far too late for that. This is not a problem of W8, this is a problem of MS having had the wrong attitude and being too arrogant with their customers for over a decade. In the past they could get away with it because we had bought so much into their technology, now folks have become completely fed up with them. It is far too late for them to turn, unless it's to stone.

@nim81
"If you're in Metro and you want to switch to one of the apps on the desktop you need to first switch to the desktop using the left-hand switcher and then click on the traditional switcher to get to that app."
Or...Just press Alt + Tab the same as it has been for donkeys years ;-)

No offense, Theo, but ... "unhinged"? "Rants"? It's perfectly OK--required, even--for us to challenge and question the direction Microsoft is forcing users down. That's not a "rant," it's reasonable concern. By using words like that, you attempt to kill the messenger and divert attention from the message. And that message is one we need to consider.
As for the insane boyfriend/girlfriend bit, you're right about one thing: There is an abusive relationship occurring here. Just not in the direction you imply.
I don't mind anyone disagreeing with what I wrote. But don't turn this into something that's about me. This is about Microsoft, Windows 8, and 1.3 billion users. Very few of whom asked for Windows 8, by the way.
Keep it civil.

I'm doubting whether it was JUSt Apple allies and bloggers that did Vista in [on their own]. Problem was the lack of drivers that were available at RTM, lack of software that was compatible [let alone compatible with a 64-bit OS], the huge [at the time] hardware upgrade requirements, amonth other things.
I have Windows 8 as a dual boot on my netbook. Runs decently with 2GB of RAM and even got it to go above 1024*600 without a problem. I had an issue initially after installing but was cleared up.
But I am not a fan of the new desktop UI. Microsoft would of have less of a backlash if they offered non-touch screen users a choice between the modern UI and the old classic Start menu like we had with Windows XP [granted not as drastic of a change].
Like many who help others with computer problems, I'm telling potential computer purchasers at this time that if they can't buy a Win 7 system at a retail store, then go online. I know Dell is still selling Win 7 systems primarily on the business side [or even a Win 8 system as they can downgrade to Win 7].

I know Paul has asked this but it bears repeating: why isn't the Windows Phone operating system put on a Surface tablets? The WP ecosystem is already optimized for touch screens, with an app store (Marketplace), and many developers. I've heard Paul say that the reason is that Sinofsky wanted to design a new OS for tablets so he pushed the WP developers to the side. But Sinofsky is now gone so there's nothing preventing Microsoft from doing this other than hubris. People would be more inclined to purchase both a phone and tablet running the exact same operating system if they could sync their apps and content to both, which locks them. The iOS and Android teams figured this out eons ago.

"Microsoft can and will update and mature Windows 8 pretty regularly for the next few years, this is an effort that cant start soon enough. And its one that needs to involve the community of users who will actually implement and deploy this product."
Whereas in previous Windows applications like Word for example you NEVER, not even ONE TIME, would have seen a major interface change between full releases of the product.
Now with Metro apps, major changes are the norm, and happen several times per month. The addition of a Help button with video tutorials on the Bing apps is a major step forward IMO. I have often heard you refer to MS as being unable to sweat the details. I found it inconceivable that there was no Live Tile front and center with video tutorials pertaining to every day usage of Windows 8. I don't care if there is an app for that, that help button should be on every app screen, along with a big fat X to close an app for us mouse users.

Microsoft don't seem to have the ability to market their products in the way that Apple do. A shame as Windows8 looks to be a very capable OS.It may be disingenuous of MS to say they arrived at the design for Windows8 before the iPad arrived, but then the lead time for OS design isn't short. Apple probably had the iPad design worked even earlier... Of course, MS had the lead on touch screen OS's in any case having released a touch enabled version of XP about 12 years ago. So they have had plenty of time to think about this and refine it. I loaded the developer preview of Windows8 onto an old laptop that was starting to struggle under Windows7: It gave it a new lease of life, and amazingly many of my legacy apps still run in tbe desktop. An old tablet recently got the treatment after a registry tweak for screen resolution and is giving great service. There is a lot going for this new OS that MS needs to push.

I have to wonder if the death by a thousand cuts isn't also at least partially to blame on those spreading the word on windows 8: i.e. tech blogs and various forum goers.
The more I hear the bashing that goes on with many tech bloggers (not you Paul, I consider your points fair criticisms, but there are plenty that don't fall into that category), the more I wonder if this is isolated from the real world and real users. Maybe we are part of a power user group that simply doesn't apply to most users. There is also the group of users that jump on the negative bandwagon for various reasons.
The reason I say that is that over and over I have seen examples of regular users picking up Windows 8 after a bit of adjustment time and coming away liking the system (most users I have dealt with so far rarely if ever used the start menu to begin with, which helps the transition). It has a lot to do with what their first experience is like and what kind of preconceptions they come in with. If you sit down and show people the changes, they pick up on them fairly quickly. Plus, when it comes to tablets and touch screen all-in-ones, they actually enjoy the metro side. Again, it comes down to proper demonstration and showing what it can do for them.
It has been said before, but there is still a clear lack of touch-enabled hardware to properly show off all of Windows 8. Without touch, the metro side is only going to be used for the Start Screen until a compelling app changes that. At least the desktop side is not much different from 7, so living on that side alone is easily doable, but it doesn't create as much buzz as the touch experience.

Paul, lighten up. I am worried for you. It seems that you are personally responsible for many of those thousand cuts. You have become like the boyfriend locked out of his girlfriend's house after she has had enough of the beating and changed her locks. You have become embittered and unhinged and it shows. You are abusing the preeminent position you built up over the years by displaying good judgment, and seem hell-bent on destroying your own reputation. Please stop these rants before it's too late.

"Microsoft should be credited with creating a single product that can be all things to all people"
No they should not, since they have not created such a product. W8 is too much of a compromise on the desktop. It is not merely different; it is simply awkward and inefficient. It is a tablet/touch UI, pure and simple (literally.)
I am not alone with this opinion. I have yet to read a review on Win 8 here in Europe where the reviewer woudl not call it inefficient for desktop use. Everyone seems to agree that Win 8 makes things more difficult for the sheer sake of being different.
It faces the same problem Vista had, which was not Apple, of course, as Apple on desktop was and remains irrelevant. Rather, Win 8, like Vista, brings nothing to the Win 7 (compare XP before) owner. There is absolutely no reason to upgrade -- quite the opposite.
When I talk to people about Win 8 -- and I do this now occasionally -- and ask if they are interested in getting it, their reaction is, why on Earth would I? indeed. Why on Earth?
The more desktop-oriented one is -- that is, the more real work one does on their computer -- the sillier Win 8 looks. It is not everything for everyone. It is merely form over function. And we need not any more of that.
At our organization, desktop Linux use has been growing during the past year quite a bit. People are getting back to the basics after the tablet hulabaloo has started to run out of steam. Work is again important. Function is back in fashion. And interestingly, this is happening everywhere around me. People are even trading smartphones for their early-2000 black-and-white Nokias that can actually hold a signal and need be re-charged only once every two weeks.
There may be a big surprise for MS with Win 8, or even Apple, if this attitude, or a backlash, that I am observing, hits the North American soil as well.

Paul, I worked at MS between 2009-2011 and witnessed some of the most horiffic arrogance I've ever seen. I used to be a huge MS fan--until I started getting burned by their products (all but abandoned Media Center Extenders, abandoned all support for MS Networking products--causing me to spend a good amount of money to replace them since they didn't work in Windows 7, the mess that was Windows Mobile 5 and its (lack of) stability, and FIVE fried Xbox 360's).
Up to, and shortly after the Windows Phone 7 roll-out, I got harrassed, ridiculed, and threatened for owning an iPhone. But NO ONE would ask me why I owned one. Passionate employees, and a (former) friend who's currently a Senior Dev in WinPhone, berated me publicly (on the internal "Officetalk" site)--for not supporting the company. When Win7SP1 hit RTM--it broke iTunes in certain configs. I brought it up, and wrote a bug--and was told to "Shut up--it's not our problem. Close your bug, at once" (literally).
It was at that point I decided that MS was not the place for me. I've since left the high tech field and now work in IT for the government--and I love every minute of it.
BTW...that former friend in WinPhone--he has a PC and a Windows Phone. His wife has a Mac and iPhone. They *almost* got a divorce when he thought he'd be cool and install Windows 7 via Boot Camp on her Mac. That's how sour the "Kool Aid" is in Redmond...

I looked so forward to Win8 on my desktop. once installed, I was shocked by not just the jarring experience of the dual interface, but also the poor quality of the Apps in the "metro' screen. The included Mail, Calendar and Photo are primitive and lack the functionality I have come to expect in mobile Apps, let alone a desktop environment. Without functional and compelling Apps there is no way that Win8 and RT Surface, Win Phone can be a success. The other disturbing trend seems to be that major players in the mobile app arena seem to be ignoring or declining to produce Apps for Win8, like they have for Win Phone. If the developers were truly committed to either platform we wouldn't be told to continuously wait for vital Apps to be developed and released. It is enough to make this loyal MS user want to go over to the "dark side". I always feel like I have to explain to "normal users" why I have stuck to what they perceive as either outdated or irrelevant technologies such as Win Phone, IE,and Win8. I think I see how Mac users felt in the 90's.

I simply do not understand why so many have a problem. I've got the two extremes of users in my household. I've grown up with both PC and Mac from their early days (1980s) and my wife is about as computer illiterate as many users. Neither of us had any problem navigating and taking advantage of Windows 8. With very few minor concept changes (realizing the corners and sides are "active", operation on non-touch devices hasn't been nearly the challenge and, in fact, is quite easy. I've not had any complaints from my wife, other than she would love to see this on a touch screen to fully take on the experience. It's like a lot of people are either too stupid to learn any basic new ideas, to lazy to learn, or just have decided from the outset to hate it, and thus refuse to grasp what really are simple ideas. We moved all four of our machines to Windows 8 and haven't looked back. I have wiped all icons from the desktop side of my notebook and my music studio desktop, relying completely on the Start screen. I get incredibly angry at the simpletons who insist on putting a Start button back on the desktop. This is not rocket science. It's not difficult. Yet too many people insist on pretending it is and continue to trash it so that public perception is further damaged. INSTEAD, what they should be doing is talking about substantive issues that can and should be addressed instead of things like a Start button. Every single one of my legacy apps (which, because of my music studio and podcasting, I have a number) work and, when I'm on the desktop, I find I miss nothing from Windows 7. Why is this a challenge? And I search the Windows Store daily for apps that take the place of things I still use on the desktop. I WANT to kick the desktop to the curb, no matter if I'm on a touch-enabled device or not.

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